PRESS DIGEST - Wall Street Journal - March 7

Reuters Staff

3 Min Read

March 7 (Reuters) - The following are the top stories in the Wall Street Journal. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

* U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood needs more information to be convinced that Boeing Co’s proposed fixes to batteries on its 787 Dreamliner are adequate to enable the jet to resume commercial flights.

* Michael Dell is battling to keep his $24.4 billion buyout of Dell Inc on track after a major shareholder, Southeastern Asset Management Inc, balked and Dell’s biggest rival, Hewlett-Packard Co considered a bid of its own.

* Time Warner Inc has decided to spin off its entire Time Inc magazine group, it said Wednesday, giving up on talks with Meredith Corp over the proposed merger of most of their titles.

* Microsoft Corp is backing a U.S. bill that would restrict commercial use of data gathered while children use computers at public schools. Its stated purpose is protecting privacy, but an unnamed focus of the bill is Google Inc .

* Gao Xiqing, president of China’s giant sovereign-wealth fund, China Investment Corp, warned Japan against using its neighbors as a “garbage bin” by deliberately devaluing the yen, joining growing international griping about a potential currency war.

* Japanese auto maker Toyota Motor Corp on Wednesday announced its biggest management overhaul since 2009. Among the three outside directors named to the board is Mark Hogan, a former General Motors Co executive who once ran a now-dissolved California, United States joint-venture between Toyota and General Motors.

* General Motors Co’s Chief Executive Dan Akerson said he was confident that the auto maker would meet the federal fuel-efficiency target set for 2025. He said initial steps to meeting the target include cutting the average weight of cars using lighter materials, introducing new engine technology and developing an all-electric vehicle with a range of up to 200 miles.

* A major test of China’s promise to consolidate its solar-panel makers looms this month when Suntech Power Holdings Co, one of the industry’s biggest companies, faces a deadline for a steep bond payment.

* Bank of America Corp profited from a big options bet it made on Constellation Brands Inc’s stock days before the beverage maker announced an acquisition in which the bank was the lead lender.